15.10.17

CCTV Footage Showed Army Allegedly Looting Kanu's Home

The family of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of
Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, has petitioned the United Nations, the European
Union and other foreign countries, accusing the Nigerian Army of
looting valuables from their son’s home during a raid on October 8, a
report by Punch has revealed.

In a petition signed by Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, who is well known as
Kanu’s personal lawyer, on behalf of the traditional head of Afaraukwu
Ibeku, Umuahia, in Abia State, and Kanu’s father, Eze Isreal Okwu-Kanu
alleged in the separate letters sent by Ejiofor to the international
bodies and foreign countries that “CCTV footage” attached to the said letters “picked” the alleged looting by a combined team of soldiers and policemen.

The Army had claimed that lethal weapons were recovered from the house.

The letters read in part, “We are solicitors to the family of
His Royal Majesty, Eze Isreal Okwu-Kanu, hereinafter referred to as ‘our
client’ and on whose standing instruction we file this communication
with the British Government.

“It is our brief, that on the 8th day of October, 2017, our
client’s son’s home (Nnamdi Kanu) in Afaraukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, in Abia
State was invaded, and violently looted by rampaging Nigerian soldiers
and their police counterparts.

“The CCTV footage which picked the horrendous raids, revealed
the brazen looting and carting away of valuables and household equipment
by the above named security agents.”

The separate letters were addressed to the Resident Representatives
of UN and EU, the US Ambassador, the Russian Ambassador to Nigeria, the
High Commissioner of the British High Commission; and the High
Commissioner, the Canadian High Commission.

A copy of the letter sent to the British High Commission on
Saturday, stated that since the invasion of the family home of the Kanus
on September 14, 2017, neither a family member nor any lawyer in their
legal team “has been able to establish any form of contact with Nnamdi Kanu.”

The letter added that the IPOB leader might have been killed during the military operation.

It added that the raid on October 8 lacked any legal backing as
there were many pending suits challenging the earlier invasion by
soldiers and another challenging the court order proscribing IPOB.

The letter read in part, “The raid and consequent looting in
the home of our client’s son, (a British citizen) by the soldiers and
their police counterparts does not enjoy the protection, backing, and
legitimacy of any known legislative enactment in Nigeria.

“It is, therefore, not unlikely, that he may have been killed
in the well-coordinated bloody onslaught in his home. The attached CCTV
footage picked clearly the horrendous activity of these rampaging
security personnel in the home of our client.”

The family urged the foreign governments to treat the proscription
of IPOB with circumspect, adding that the legality or otherwise of it
was already being challenged in court.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig Gen. Sani Usman had,
during a briefing last Thursday, insisted that the army did not raid
Kanu’s house as alleged.